I won’t lie; today was a struggle to find food I wanted to eat. Breakfast was probably the best meal of the day, honestly, and it was an omelet with ham, peppers, and onions. Lunch was an uninspired Quest bar (cinnamon roll) which was okay, but nothing I’d look forward to, again. Dinner was some zucchini noodles and meatballs from Noodles and Co. but by the time I got to the third or fourth bite, I remembered why I didn’t go there more often; I just don’t like zucchini noodles. I love zucchini if it’s barbequeued or roasted with some other vegetables, but a noodle it is not.

I drank a glass of tea with four tablespoons of MCT oil (I’m telling you, it was a struggle!) and I’ll be regretting that in a little while. I’m physically exhausted because I didn’t get that much sleep last night. I’m downloading all kinds of practice files for this Full Stack Developer course on Lynda.com and some of them were taking forever and/or had errors in the files that disallowed the zip to export. Ugh. I’ll deal with those ones, I guess, when I get to those particular lessons.

MyFitnessPal is probably about as good as it’ll get for today, as I’m absolutely stuffed because of that gulp of MCT oil and tea:

99 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 73% of my calories; target is 75% (rounded up from 72.6%)

60 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 20% of my calories; target is 20% (rounded up from 19.6%)

24 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 8% of my calories; target is 5% (rounded up from 7.8%)

I still don’t like getting over 20 net carbs. I like the handicap of having 25 net carbs as a just in case, but after eating relatively well for the last 3 months, anything over 20 just feels different. I’ll have to log my food on day 91 just to see what the ultimate binge is going to look like. It’s only for one day though, and I earned it…or will have, by then.

Tomorrow’s the countdown from 10 days! I can’t believe I actually made it this long, much less believe I’m down nearly 35 pounds already. Getting down to 180 lbs used to be a pipe dream, but now I’m really close to that happening. It’s still going to take some time, but it’s doable. I’ve shown myself that I can actually do it if I commit to eating healthily, taking all my required medicine, and keeping a somewhat active lifestyle. I’ll admit that last one has not been a mantra of mine these past nearly three months, but when my ankle is better, I will absolutely start doing stuff outside, whether that be longer walks, running, or maybe getting a bike, eventually. I totally expect the ability to lose weight to plateau soon and for me to need that extra help.

My ankle will require an orthopedic professional to look at it, and that’s happening Thursday. It feels a little better today; still a twinge of pain, but nowhere near as bad as the past couple days. I imagine in the morning it might hurt again, but I gave the crutches back to my friend at work with the hope that I won’t need them (thanks, Lisa!). My armpits also hurt, and I’m the worst at using crutches and nearly face-planted several times like an idiot, trying to go too fast.

Food-wise, my ankle was still hurting this morning, so I stayed up and had another Quest bar for breakfast; double-chocolate chunk. It was pretty good for being only four net carbs. Another friend grabbed me a coffee later in the day (thanks, Kelvin!) and I was able to walk down for lunch around a quarter after 11. I got a ham sandwich with no bread and just put mayo and mustard on it and ate it with a fork and knife. Dinner was an Ore-Ida Crack an Egg. I wanted to have a tortilla with peanut butter, but I decided to keep it lighter. I also had 4 total tablespoons of MCT oil. I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I’m on calorie counting and don’t need MCT oil anymore on account of calories should be easy to get with the breads and pastas and rice I’ll be eating (in limited quantities) again. Super excited about that, let me tell you!

MyFitnessPal had me near my macros, and I actually feel more full than these show:

130 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 77% of my calories; target is 75%

71 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 19% of my calories; target is

17 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 4% of my calories; target is 5%

My wife is off work tomorrow and we were talking about getting barbeque at that Mission Barbeque place I talked about the other day. I wouldn’t mind getting the exact same meal (some sausage stuffed with cheddar and jalapenos and some moist brisket). Tomorrow should also be good if my ankle’s better because I’d like to actually go downstairs and get breakfast, though it’ll be a hard decision between eggs, kielbasa and sausage gravy versus those Quest bars with low carbs; but at least I’d like to be able to grab a coffee at my convenience. If not, I still have awesome friends who’ll do that for me.

I got a little closer to my calorie goal today and my macros were all good, despite my treat I had. I was in pretty damn excruciating pain with my ankle for most of the day, not even able to put my foot down on the scale without a couple tears wanting to stream down. It hurt! I stopped off at a grocery store on the way in because I couldn’t take it; I needed to wrap it in ice when I got in to work. Walking through the store was agony and thankfully they had their grocery carts relatively close to where I parked because it was not fun walking to the front door. Well, not walking…hobbling. I was hobbled.

I got some ice packs, an ACE bandage, and 8 Quest bars, because why not. Each of those are only 4 or 5 net carbs, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to try to walk downstairs to get breakfast, so that’s what I had. It was a chocolate brownie one because that was the one that was due to expire first (by September 18th). All the others are good until at least February 2019, so they’re fine. I got 8 different flavors, and given there’s no time restriction on the rest, it’ll be a random draw each day I eat one of those from here on out. I couldn’t find the Bulletproof bars, which is a shame, but next time I see some, I’ll pick those up. Those bars are pretty good for some easy macros.

Lunch today was a medium coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. I was given some crutches to borrow and those things were super foreign to me! I’ve never had to mess with crutches because, as all can attest, I’m like the most healthy person alive, and I never get sick or injured (definitely a true story!). For dinner, I had the other steak rolled up with garlic butter and spinach, a little A1 (about a tablespoon) and my treat; a Hostess Petite cake. One of those is 9 carbs and only 3 grams of fat, so it was not the best selection, but let me tell you–it was the best selection. I wanted to eat them all. I had four total tablespoons of MCT oil to boost up the calories and fat content and after everything was said and done, I was pretty close to all my macros.

MyFitnessPal had me at:

111 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 78% of my calories; target is 75% (rounded up from 78.8%)

54 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 17% of my calories; target is 20% (rounded up from 5.6%)

20 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 5% of my calories; target is 5% (rounded up from 15.6%)

Thankfully I’m on lazy keto; I had a cake bite thing made by Hostess that tasted like straight sugar and bad-for-you stuff. It was good, though! #NoRagerts

Today, I had slightly more calories and better macros, but I was still off. I couldn’t find anything I really wanted today and that led me to what could have been a pretty disastrous path! I took my girls to McDonald’s this morning.

I was fully intent on having a coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts this morning. I brought my liquid stevia with me and I was going to have a large coffee with two tablespoons of half and half and some of that sweetener. On the way there, I decided I could just have a McDonald’s coffee; I like their coffee enough, so it’s not a big deal. Then it was too hot to drink, and I was hungry. I needed to eat. The girls weren’t eating their chicken nuggets (it was 11 am), so I helped them. When I ate one, I checked the nutrition to see how large a mistake I’d made. Four chicken nuggets are only 11 carbs; so guess what my lunch was!? What I was surprised about was the protein–only 10 grams of protein in four chicken nuggets. I will never watch a video or look into what goes into the creation of those nuggets–never, ever–especially after learning that protein fact!

So, given that lunch and breakfast were essentially combined, I didn’t have dinner until about 6 1/2 hours later. I had some garlic herb butter & spinach beef (flank steak) pinwheels, and they were fairly fantastic. I also had a 5 calorie light lemonade (which had two carbs) and turned that into two Arnold Palmers with my jug of Chick Fil A unsweet tea. Yes, I added a tablespoon of MCT oil to each of those drinks I had, as well as the final coffee I had a couple hours ago. Having those nuggets earlier has made me hungry for more. I gotta watch out for that though because I only have 12 days remaining, if you count tomorrow through the 18th!

MyFitnessPal has me at:

101 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 79% of my calories; target is 75% (rounded up from 78.8%)

45 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 16% of my calories; target is 20% (rounded up from 5.6%)

16 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 6% of my calories; target is 5% (rounded up from 15.6%)

Lastly, I don’t know what the hell I did, but my ankle is jacked up. It might have been when I walked the dogs the other day in flip flops (dumb move!), but it was alright yesterday, but today it’s just extremely sore. It hurts to move it or have it at any kind of an angle. Hope that it feels better tomorrow or I’m getting set to have a bad time!

I was at 204.7 lbs this morning, which I felt was more a causation from being regular again than anything. The ketosis has definitely slowed to minimal for a few days now (probably because of the tortillas), so that’s a bummer, but at least I’m still burning fat. It’ll be a feat if I can get down to 200, and would be easier if I could exercise, but with my ankle the way it is, I don’t see that happening until I can at least walk on it. And when I can, I’d like to test this old body out and see if I can run a mile non-stop. I don’t care how fast I do it, I just want to do it, first go, without stopping.

I wasn’t feeling so great today. I wasn’t on the verge of throwing up or anything, but I felt a little off. It affected my eating today, and while I was close with my macros, I was still off with calories, but I don’t feel like I needed anymore–at least for today. I was at 205.2 lbs this morning, which is my lowest yet. I finally got to sit in the bathroom for a bit, too, so I’m hoping to dip a little lower.

Breakfast was late, but it was another Ore-Ida Crack an Egg cup. I put some red pepper flakes in there and some habanero Tabasco sauce; delicious! I drank that with a glass of water and had a coffee and MCT oil a bit later. Lunchtime was a disappointment; I had two mozzarella and pepperoni rollups. I think that might have been the cause as to why I didn’t feel great. I couldn’t figure out what I wanted for dinner, but I ended up having some peanut butter on a low-carb tortilla. I had another cup of coffee later with another tablespoon of MCT oil. Having only two tablespoons of that oil today was good, I think. I’d been leaning too heavy into using it as a crutch, and to be honest, if I felt better today, I probably would have had a couple more tablespoons of it.

MyFitnessPal macros show that I was still close to my goals:

87 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 73% of my calories; target is 75%

58 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 22% of my calories; target is 20%

14 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 5% of my calories; target is 5%

I’m really glad there’s so much fiber in those tortillas! They don’t seem to be killing my blood sugar, so as a change of pace, they’re great. I feel like I’ve slowed to a crawl, though, as far as what foods I want to eat. I’ll be happier when my selections open up a bit. I think that if I can function on a 50 net carb diet, I should be alright. At least then I can start to have some sandwiches or just mix things up a bit–have more vegetables. We’ll see what that’s like in just a couple weeks!

After writing this, I’ll only have two weeks remaining on this more strict diet. I’ve been thinking about all the things I’ll finally be allowed to have, like sandwiches, and coke, and chips and candy. I don’t think I’m going to partake nearly as much as I did. I’ve been more excited for an actual cheat meal than I have for snacks of those kinds. And I can’t say I really miss coke or soda of any kind (except Diet Dr Pepper) because I’m so much more aware of how much sugar and carbs are in that. It’s just not good at all. I may have it sparingly, but it’ll never be a staple of my diet again. I wish I could drink more water; so much of my daily liquid intake is coffee these past few weeks.

I had a semi-decent day of eating. Breakfast was the norm, but it was two ounces of ham vice the standard one. I had the coffee, egg, and sausage gravy. I had a second coffee probably around 9:30 or so and that kept me satiated until I’d left for the day. When I got home, I made myself a natural creamy peanut butter roll up in a low carb tortilla. Dinner was leftovers, which was the pot roast and baby carrots. I drank some iced tea with MCT oil to wash down the dinner and had a final coffee later in the day with some more MCT oil. I had no water…ugh. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.

MyFitnessPal didn’t disappoint, and had me pretty close to macros:

110 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 77% of my calories; target is 75%

53 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 16% of my calories; target is 20%

22 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 7% of my calories; target is 5%

I’m down to about 205.2 lbs, I think; the scale’s still a little shoddy. But that’s about the mean average of what I was getting this morning, moving the scale to several spots in the bathroom. Still having plumbing issues (probably because of the coffee) so I’m hoping that drinking a bunch of water will help with that, and get me closer to 200 pounds. I only have two more weeks to get there!

Well I hit my macro percentages, but not all the way to what I was supposed to get. I ended up about 300 calories short of my goal, but I’m satisfied with today. I was a little disheartened when I did my ketosis strips this morning and it showed I was in the lower range, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t eat a bunch of stuff I shouldn’t have. I ended up eating about 4 of those little tortilla chips, but it tallied up at 2 or 3 carbs, max, so it’s not going to effect my macros that much, but my blood sugar…maybe.

I’d forgotten to take my metformin (for my blood sugar) yesterday and I woke up to take my levels and I was good at 112. I was happy with that because it’d been well over 18 hours since I’d last taken my medication, so that’s a win. My scale has a dead zone so my weight is between 205 and 207, but the slider won’t show me exactly what it is. So my goal is to break past that 205 to like 203 or so until it rips past that broken zone. Annoying.

Breakfast was back to the normal for me with an egg, some sausage gravy, and a piece of kielbasa. I added a coffee and was good until lunch. Three large meatballs in some marinara was a welcome change to anything they would have offered downstairs (happy birthday, Jade! Thanks for the meatballs, Amanda!) so I enjoyed those. I could have and should have had three more. But I got another coffee and that simmered me down til dinner. My wife made the best pot roast she’s ever made. I’m not saying that either of us are fantastic cooks (ADT can attest to that, as my house always fills with smoke when I cook a steak), but she was on point today! I had some baby carrots with onions that was in the pot roast; 4 oz of carrots and 6 oz of the meat. That was pretty good. I also walked all three of my dogs, one by one, around the block, giving myself about 30 minutes of exercise, and giving them some much needed exposure to the outside world. They need to be walked more. I need to be walked more, too.

MyFitnessPal logged me in at:

101 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 77% of my calories; target is 75%

52 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 18% of my calories; target is 20%

16 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 5% of my calories; target is 5%

I’m getting closer to the end, and the closer I get, the more I question if I’m ready to really just abandon what’s working for me. I like that I’ve lost this weight and my blood sugar is under control. I like that I have to get new clothes at some point, because it means I’ve effected change on myself. I like that I’m not laying in bed with a bloated and uncomfortable stomach ache because of the amount of carbs I’d eaten shortly prior to trying to get to sleep. I’m absolutely having a cheat day, but I may have to think about what I honestly want to do going forward. As much as I’ve complained about it, it’s not an impossible diet to follow, though it’s not something I’ll follow *forever.* It’s something I can set some guidelines to. I’ll have to experiment with different macros and calories and see what works whenever I re-introduce the carbs. My goal is still 180 lbs or under. I’m still a long way away now that the initial shock to my body is gone.

It’s about to be a good night! I still have plenty of carbs to burn and some fat and calories to consume so I’m going to treat myself to my first dose of MCT oil (just two tablespoons) in some coffee. Even better, I’m also going to have a Hershey’s nugget. I have enough macro capital to have three of them and still be under 25 net carbs, but I’ll be good…ish.

I was pretty hungry to start the day and I knew my typical breakfast wasn’t going to cut it so I did something I haven’t done in a while; I had an omelet at work. Ham, peppers, and onions, and them some Texas Pete on it–it was fantastic, and a welcome change from the norm. I used to get that omelet (which is about a 3-egg omelet), a bagel, and some tater tots and make a sandwich out of it. Holy hell, it’s amazing. I haven’t done one of those, though, in months. Le sigh.

Lunch in the cafeterias (yes, we have multiple options) didn’t yield anything that looked good so I opted for a coffee and an iced tea. I just now finished that tea, to give you a sneak peek into my drinking habits. Dinner was what I said it’d be: a filet mignon and some asparagus (I wasn’t ready for broccoli just yet). I put a tablespoon of A1 on it; all good!

MyFitnessPal put my macros in at the following:

114out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 74% of my calories; target is 75%

75 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 22% of my calories; target is 20%

14 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 4% of my calories; target is 5%

I found out there’s another friend at work that just started a Keto diet; she was on her first day, and she was going to be doing 20 net carbs as well. I wished her well, and I wish my other friend at work good luck when he starts. This diet (at least insofar as my experience, which you can obviously take with a grain of salt–which you’ll need if you’re on Keto!) is not one you can just casually get into if you’re expecting any real ketosis-related results. It’s pretty difficult at times, and some days you cruise through the day with no issues. I can’t say that about any low-fat/calories restrictive diets I’d ever been on before. They were always a struggle. To Keto’s credit, this one is manageable, at least for me. Super happy I got the whim to do it 2 1/2 months ago! Just over two more weeks to go. Then Thai.

I’m going to regret food today. I was pretty damn hungry after work and while I stayed at the very edge of my max allowable net carbs (25), I’m feeling a little ill and dizzy. I don’t know if it’s from the coffee or the MCT oil but it’s setting up to be a roller coaster of a night.

My morning started off alright. I wasn’t hungry, which isn’t so much a bad thing. I still had my coffee, as normal, but when lunch came around, I found my appetite. Not wanting to use up too many carbs, I settled for just a few meatballs in marinara and some iced tea; I just wanted something to tide me over until I got home. Dinner was an Ore-Ida Crack an Egg Denver Scramble with some habanero Tabasco rolled up in a low-carb tortilla followed up an hour later with two tablespoons of natural peanut butter (smooth) on another tortilla.

Three months ago, those two things don’t phase me at all. I could probably have tripled that. As hungry as I was, I might have been able to do that now, but when you throw in the coffee and the total of 5 tablespoons of MCT oil, I’m stuffed. Completely. If I end up paying for it later, I’m fine with it. I’ll chalk it up to wanting to test my limits and getting to 25 net carbs for the first time. I had a total of 50 carbs and 25 carbs of fiber, which is crazy. That may be another reason for how I’m feeling since I don’t typically get a lot of fiber. I dunno.

MyFitnessPal’s macros follow:

126 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 79% of my calories; target is 75%

49 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 14% of my calories; target is 20%

25 out of the allowed 25 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 5% of my calories; target is 5%

I just noticed that my protein intake was even 2 carbs lower than yesterday, too. Probably a good thing that I’m taking all my vitamins as I’m obviously not getting enough vegetables. Tomorrow I’m gonna try to have some broccoli or asparagus (or both) and maybe a nice filet and some A1. It’d be better if I paired that with some mashed potatoes, fries, a baked potato, or some baked potato soup, but I’ll go with what I have planned for the time being. I’m looking forward to it. I’m not looking forward to the next couple hours, though!

Okay, so I crushed it today, I think. My macros were very good. I feel extremely full right now and most of the calories I ate were from fat. What sucked is I had a friend at work bring rice krispie treats (which I LOVE), but I didn’t partake; not a bite. I’m too damn close to being complete! I have only got 19 days, including today, which is almost over, so let’s call it 18. Sure, I could have gone back and deleted the prior sentence, but that’s all in the past now.

I gained a half pound yesterday. That doesn’t really surprise me because I was just coming up on 4 consecutive days of losing weight, so it was bound to happen. I’m not too concerned about it. As long as I dip back below 205.5 by next Monday, then things will balance out just fine. It’s what I expected. I think that’s been a big part of my success, too, is expecting the minor letdowns (which are to be expected) and not let it get to me. Also, I’m not letting any success get to me insomuch as I’m not granting myself cheat days or cheat meals. You know how much I want Thai? So much. But I’ll wait.

I have to really consider what I’m going to do when this is all done because I don’t want to lose my progress. There has to be some expectation of bounceback weight, but not too much. I wonder if I should maybe consider doing keto during the week and doing some calorie counting during the weekend, with maybe a cheat *meal* or two thrown in there (so long as it isn’t excessive or crazy)? It’s weird bargaining with myself considering there are so many fit people who just decide what they want to eat and eat it. But that’s on me. That’s my fault. I jacked up my metabolism, blood sugar, weight, etc. Stupid!

Breakfast was the norm; no big change other than I had an extra egg and some salsa because we all were brought Anita’s burritos today–thanks, Lisa! I had mine with no potatoes and no tortilla, but it was still good. Lunch was just a coffee, given that I was still full from breakfast. Dinner tonight was Five Guys; a bacon double-cheeseburger, no bun, with hot sauce, mayo, mustard, lettuce, grilled onions, jalapenos, pickles, and tomatoes. Their food is a Keto dream, but it’s not something I think I could eat every day, despite how tasty it is. Too much of a good thing kinda deal. A coffee and my last pack of Fat Snax chocolate chip cookies rounded out the day, bringing me to some good macros, today.

MyFitnessPal blessed me with the knowledge of the following:

122 out of the allowed 125 g of fat, accounting for 80% of my calories; target is 75%

51 out of the allowed 75 g of protein, accounting for 15% of my calories; target is 20%

17 out of the allowed 20 g of net carbohydrates, accounting for 5% of my calories; target is 5%

What I found really interesting is that today I had 17 total and net carbs, meaning I had no fiber. It also means I counted everything I ate against my macros and didn’t subtract anything to pad my calories (or lessen the blow to my net carbs). It certainly wasn’t by design. Oh, and I also only had one tablespoon of MCT oil in that last coffee I’d just had. I double checked all my macros and calories and everything seems to be correct. Calling today a win!